State v. Brown
| Decision Date | 19 December 2012 |
| Docket Number | Opinion No. 27202,Appellate Case No. 2010-175826 |
| Parties | The State, Petitioner, v. Danny Cortez Brown, Respondent. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal From Horry County
Steven H. John, Circuit Court Judge
REVERSED
Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson, Chief Deputy Attorney General John W. McIntosh, Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General Salley W. Elliott, Assistant Attorney General Mark Reynolds Farthing, all of Columbia; and Solicitor John Gregory Hembree, of Conway, for Petitioner.
Appellate Defender David Alexander, of South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, of Columbia, for Respondent.
Danny Cortez Brown was convicted of trafficking in cocaine and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. Brown appealed, arguing the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the cocaine, which was seized from a duffel bag after his arrest for an open container violation during an automobile stop. The Court of Appeals reversed on the basis the search was improper under Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009). State v. Brown, 389 S.C. 473, 698 S.E.2d 811 (Ct. App. 2010). This Court has granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the Court of Appeals. We reverse.
Shortly after 7:00 p.m. on October 6, 2005, Officer Daryl Williams of the Horry County Police Department was on patrol in Myrtle Beach, in the vicinity of 16th Avenue South and Kings Highway, when he looked over at a vehicle near him, a 1970s-model Plymouth, and noticed the passenger was drinking from a beer can. Upon making eye contact with Officer Williams, the passenger, Brown, tucked the beer can between his legs. Officer Williams then initiated a traffic stop based on the open container violation. The driver of the car, Rodney Smith, stopped the car in the roadway, near the curb, rather than pulling off the road.
When Officer Williams approached the vehicle, he asked Brown about the beer can. Brown initially denied having any beer, but upon further questioning Brown revealed the beer can that was in his lap. Officer Williams removed Brown from the car and arrested him for an open container violation. Officer Williams had previously noticed a small black duffel bag on the floorboard of the car, on the passenger's side between Brown's legs. When he removed Brown from the car, Officer Williams placed the bag on the sidewalk and then placed Brown, handcuffed, in the back of his patrol car. Officer Williams asked Brown if that was his bag, and Brown confirmed that it belonged to him.
After securing Brown, Officer Williams returned to the stopped vehicle. While talking to Smith, Officer Williams unzipped the duffel bag, which was still on the sidewalk, and looked inside. He discovered what appeared to be powdered cocaine in a plastic bag (122.65 grams) hidden inside a crumpled Fritos bag. Officer Williams closed the duffel bag and resumed his conversation with Smith and asked for his driver's license.
Upon running a license check, Officer Williams discovered Smith's driver's license was suspended, and he arrested Smith for driving under suspension and placed him in another patrol vehicle as more officers arrived at the scene. A search under the driver's seat in the car revealed a black pouch roughly the size of acigarette pack that contained a small amount of several drugs. Smith was advised that he was also under arrest for those drugs. Smith acknowledged the drugs under the seat belonged to him.
Brown's first trial ended in a mistrial. During the current trial, held in September 2006, Brown moved to suppress the drugs seized from the duffel bag, arguing the search and seizure violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The trial court denied the motion on the basis the drugs were discovered during a search incident to a lawful arrest, which was conducted in conformance with New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454 (1981).
On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed Brown's conviction and vacated his sentence on the basis the search violated Brown's Fourth Amendment rights. State v. Brown, 389 S.C. 473, 698 S.E.2d 811 (Ct. App. 2010). The court held the search was improper under the law recently announced in Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332 (2009), which departed from Belton, although it noted, "In fairness to the trial court, it did not have the guidance provided to us by the United States Supreme Court in the Gant case." Brown, 389 S.C. at 481 n.2, 698 S.E.2d at 815 n.2. Applying the new rule pronounced in Gant, the Court of Appeals found the exception allowing warrantless searches incident to a lawful arrest was inapplicable here because (1) Brown could not have accessed the vehicle or the duffel bag during the arrest, and (2) there was no indication that the duffel bag contained further evidence of the open container violation. Id. at 480-81, 698 S.E.2d at 815.
The Court of Appeals further held that the automobile exception for warrantless searches was inapplicable because the officer did not have probable cause to search the bag, and the inevitable discovery rule was unavailing because the State did not meet its burden at trial of establishing the evidence would inevitably have been discovered during an inventory search. Id. at 483-84, 698 S.E.2d at 816-17. This Court granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari.
In criminal cases, an appellate court sits to review only errors of law, and it is bound by the trial court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. Baccus, 367 S.C. 41, 625 S.E.2d 216 (2006); State v. Wilson, 345 S.C. 1, 545 S.E.2d 827 (2001).
"The admission or exclusion of evidence is left to the sound discretion of the trial judge, whose decision will not be reversed on appeal absent an abuse ofdiscretion." State v. Saltz, 346 S.C. 114, 121, 551 S.E.2d 240, 244 (2001). "An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court's ruling is based on an error of law or, when grounded in factual conclusions, is without evidentiary support." State v. Jennings, 394 S.C. 473, 477-78, 716 S.E.2d 91, 93 (2011) (citation omitted).
When reviewing a Fourth Amendment search and seizure case, an appellate court must affirm the trial court's ruling if there is any evidence to support it; the appellate court may reverse only for clear error. State v. Missouri, 361 S.C. 107, 603 S.E.2d 594 (2004); State v. Pichardo, 367 S.C. 84, 623 S.E.2d 840 (Ct. App. 2005).
On appeal, the State contends the Court of Appeals erred in reversing Brown's conviction and vacating his sentence. Specifically, the State argues the Court of Appeals erred because (1) the officer conducted the search of the duffel bag incident to Brown's arrest in compliance with the controlling appellate precedent in effect at the time of the search, and (2) the challenged evidence inevitably would have been discovered, regardless of the propriety of the search conducted incident to Brown's arrest. Because this case turns on a determination of the applicable precedent, a brief timeline of the pertinent authorities is desirable here.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures and provides that no warrants shall be issued except upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized. U.S. Const. amend. IV; see also Baccus, 367 S.C. at 50, 625 S.E.2d at 221 (). "A search compromises the individual interest in privacy; a seizure deprives the individual of dominion over his or her person or property." State v. Wright, 391 S.C. 436, 442, 706 S.E.2d 324, 327 (2011) (quoting Horton v. California, 496 U.S. 128, 133 (1990)).
The Fourth Amendment itself provides no remedy for a violation of the warrant requirement. Davis v. United States, 131 S. Ct. 2419 (2011). However, the United States Supreme Court has fashioned a judicially-created remedy, the exclusionary rule, which is a deterrent sanction by which the prosecution is barred from introducing evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at2423. "Exclusion is 'not a personal constitutional right,' nor is it designed to 'redress the injury' occasioned by an unconstitutional search.'" Id. at 2426 (citations omitted). "The rule's sole purpose, [the Supreme Court] has repeatedly held, is to deter future Fourth Amendment violations." Id. Because "[e]xclusion exacts a heavy toll on both the judicial system and society at large," the Court has stated "the deterrence benefits of suppression must outweigh its heavy costs" for the exclusion to be deemed appropriate. Id. at 2427. In addition, judicially-created exceptions have been established to ameliorate the harsh effects of the judicially-created exclusionary rule. Id.
"Warrantless searches and seizures are unreasonable absent a recognized exception to the warrant requirement." Wright, 391 S.C. at 442, 706 S.E.2d at 327. These exceptions include the following: (1) search incident to a lawful arrest, (2) hot pursuit, (3) stop and frisk, (4) automobile exception, (5) the plain view doctrine, (6) consent, and (7) abandonment. State v. Dupree, 319 S.C. 454, 462 S.E.2d 279 (1995); State v. Moore, 377 S.C. 299, 659 S.E.2d 256 (Ct. App. 2008); see also Wright, 391 S.C. at 444-45, 706 S.E.2d at 327-28 (discussing exigent circumstances); State v. Herring, 387 S.C. 201, 692 S.E.2d 490 (2009) (same).
In the current appeal, the trial court denied Brown's suppression motion and ultimately ruled the drugs were admissible pursuant to the authority of New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454 (1981) because they were discovered during a search incident to a lawful arrest. In Belton, the...
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...court's ruling if there is any evidence to support it; the appellate court may reverse only for clear error." State v. Brown , 401 S.C. 82, 87, 736 S.E.2d 263, 265–66 (2012) (citing State v. Missouri , 361 S.C. 107, 603 S.E.2d 594 (2004) ; State v. Pichardo , 367 S.C. 84, 623 S.E.2d 840 (Ct......